While He's Not Looking
by Sunshinegirl010
Summary: "And he knows that those final words spoken before the couple upstairs began to kiss again, were the final nails in his coffin of ever getting Elena back. All because he wasn't looking." A season 3 fic I wrote a long time ago! But I want to get it out there now! Stefan spies on Elena and Damon throughout the summer he is gone...he may not like what he sees. Damon/Elena. Stefan POV


_Okay, so here is just a little one-shot that I started way back when this would have been canon, I found it on my computer half finished, and I was majorly angry at myself for not finishing it, because I really liked the concept, so I did finish it, and I am super excited about it! Keep in mind I wrote this before I watched season three, so I didn't know anything really about hybrids and what not…I made a few improvements with what I know now, but anyway, here you go! I hope you enjoy, this is from Stefan's point-of-view by the way! _

_Rated T, but there is some slight sexual content towards the end and in the middle, but nothing major. _

He doesn't know why he's putting himself through this torture. But he can't shake the constant desire to see her, to watch her. Hell, why lie, he's practically stalking her. Leaving her had been a mistake. He could see that now, but no amount of pleading with Klaus was going to let the decisions he'd made any less real. Any less heart breaking. Any less decided.

Without hardly being gone a week, Stefan can already feel the ripper within him swallowing him whole. Taking his personality and having it for dinner, before regurgitating back to him in a jumbled mess that he can't even recognize anymore. Klaus says this is his true nature. Who he's meant to be, and the great mass of feeling that he is finally experiencing is to be expected. Embraced even.

"It's a good thing." Klaus had said, "Denying who you really are is like a human vegetarian. Sure you can sustain yourself and maybe live what you call a 'healthy' life. But you will never be satisfied. There will always be a small part of you that wonders if protecting something so seemingly innocent is worth it if you're left to pay for its happiness. You're a ripper Stefan; it is a title that holds such magnificent meaning. It should not be taken lightly, or to be put in the back of your mind for when Elena really does leave you for your brother." Stefan growls, while Klaus smirks.

But Stefan doesn't retaliate. Because deep down, he knows he's right. This feeling of going off the edge is so thrilling and mind blowing, that it is almost worth knowing that he will more than likely never get Elena back, at least he has the innocent blood of innocent lives to satiate him. To have the life of someone else in his hands made him feel alive, powerful, in control, even if he was the farthest thing from it.

But while he does begin to embrace his old life, he still can't forget about Elena. She is, after all, his rock, the one thing that had been stable in his life for the past year. The guilt he felt for leaving her was beginning to swallow him whole, and while he'd been tempted to just turn off his emotions, and partly he had, they weren't completely gone…yet. She and Damon had pulled him out of this once; he knew they could do it again, if Klaus ever set him free. The possibility of which was becoming dimmer and dimmer with each passing day.

He worries about her every day. He doesn't worry if she is alive, or if the pain of suddenly losing her Aunt is slowly killing her. No. He knows she will be fine. Damon had promised again and again that he would never allow anything or anyone harm Elena, not even herself. No matter what the cost, Damon would protect her. Stefan trusted him with her life. He did not however, trust him with her emotions.

Elena was fragile right now. Comfort was what she needed. Stefan could only pray that that comfort was not sought in his brothers' arms.

Stefan knew, without the words being said, that Elena cared for Damon. You could tell sometimes in the way she looked at him, or in words she used to describe him or in passing comments. He could handle her caring for him. Stefan cared for him. It was the reason he was caught in the predicament he was now. Yet, Stefan's only problem was, he didn't know how much Elena cared for him, and he was sure that his constant presence had prevented her from reflected on her forbidden feelings for Damon Salvatore. But he was gone now, which left her plenty of time.

And he'd be damned if he let Damon weasel his way into Elena's heart, mind…bed. He winces at the thought. Stefan convinces Klaus it would be a good idea to keep a check up on Elena every now then. Just to make sure his precious Doppelganger is safe. Klaus smirks knowingly, but agrees.

He only allows him to check on her one week each month, but Stefan never likes to pass up the opportunity to silently brood over the things he will more than likely never get back. He watches her now, crying to Alaric, admitting to him that it's slowly driving her insane looking for him. If only they knew how close he was.

He's angry; they shouldn't be trying to find him. They should forget about him. He's old business now. They needed to find a way to keep Elena from Klaus, not focusing all of their energy on keeping him alive. He was fine, more alive than he'd been in years.

And Yet, Stefan feels bad. He truly does. Having to watch her in constant pain because of the decision he made is slowly killing him, which is part of the reason (he believes) that Klaus allows him to do this. He wants him to suffer. He wants to see the way he's ripped out her heart and left her to bleed and lick her wounds. He wonders to himself how anyone could be that beautiful while they cry.

He notices Damon standing in the corner, staring longingly at her, sharing concerned looks with Alaric. They've never actually seen her break down before. It takes all Stefan has in him to not run into the house and yell at Damon to stay the hell away from her.

Damon walks over to Alaric and they whisper back and forth for a moment, looking over at Elena every few minutes. Ric goes upstairs, looking back at her before finally going to bed, leaving Elena and Damon alone in the living room, something Stefan is not completely comfortable with.

Damon goes to the kitchen, Stefan assumes to refill his empty tumbler of bourbon, and returns with two glasses. He watches as Damon walks over to her, placing a tentative hand on her back, rubbing it in soothing circles. He hands her the extra glass of bourbon he fixed in the kitchen. Elena excepts it from him, looking at it tentatively. "It helps take the edge off." She still hesitates, "Come on 'Lena, it'll just calm you down a bit." She sniffles, trying to stop the tears if even for a minute, before giving in and taking a curious sip of the burning liquid.

She coughs but quickly goes in for another drink, this time taking a larger shot. She sits down the tumbler on the coffee table and leans back into the arm that is still wrapped around her shoulders, Stefan's jaw tenses. He looks at her and wipes the tears off of her face with his thumbs looking her in the eyes. "Are you going to be okay?" he asks, trying not to upset her.

She nods, "I'm sorry Damon, and I'm probably just making you feel worse. I-I know you feel guilty about the whole, thing… but it's Stefan you know…I-I just-I don't.."

"Shhhh," he quiets her, "Don't worry about it." She leans into him and sobs, soaking a small part of the front of his shirt. He just continues to shush her and finally calms her down enough before she falls asleep in arms, sniffling.

He looks away when her crying finally stops, glares at Damon who is still holding her close, and consoles himself with the fact that she does have the ability to get over him. It's there.

….

When he comes back the next month, there's something different about her. She's...happier? Of course it's not all rainbows and sunshine and glass half fulls. This is Elena Gilbert. Ever since he'd known her she hadn't been the ray of sunshine that Caroline was, but not as broody as himself either, she was just…Elena.

But whatever's changed has brought a life back to her, she's not so fragile looking anymore as she looks slightly more alive. More in tune with what is going on, like it doesn't affect her as much as it used to. She's finding ways to cope.

He doesn't try to think of the ways in which she is coping, but he does know that Damon goes to her house every night for dinner and leaves, so as Jeremy and Alaric think, but then returns later through her window and doesn't leave until morning. He hasn't had the heart to get close enough to see what they're doing yet. Or even if Elena knows he's there. Stefan thinks that if they're doing what he thinks they're doing he may never recover from the sight, and he doesn't have the courage. Nor, does he know what he'll do if he finds them in a compromising situation. He defiantly does not trust himself there, which is Klaus's main rule: you may see, but you may not be seen.

It's almost summer. And Caroline and Bonnie are already talking of plans to distract her. A trip to the beach, maybe Disney world, New York, the sky's the limit. She smiles and nods her head. She pretends, if only for a little while, to consider going away to some undisclosed location, forever the one to make sure others are satisfied before her own needs are met.

Suddenly, his ears perk up when they ask her about Damon.

"What about Damon." she asks completely innocently with nothing implied. Not even a smirk that she says she knows something they don't. He knows then that she and Damon aren't sleeping together. She'd never been too good at keeping her feelings hidden. Then again, maybe he was in denial.

They chastise her, tell her they know. But she just shakes them off and frowns as if contemplating something and continues to eat her salad not saying much for the rest of the dinner.

….

Stefan comes two times that month, somehow convincing Klaus to let him. He knows that Damon is hot on his trail, getting closer and closer to where he's hiding. Now he's caught with trying to decide whether or not to confront him about it.

Right now he just watches Elena as he always does, finding comfort in watching her do simple, mundane, everyday tasks. Maybe cooking dinner, or brushing her hair, writing in her journal. It makes her seem normal...until she goes to training.

He's watching her now, a stake firmly planted in her grasp as she throws punches and twists and turns making impressive jabs at Alaric. Damon surveys them from across the room. Giving pointers from his view that Ric can't see while he's fighting her.

He's watched her every morning this week, but this is the first time Damon's been there. He literally flinches when Damon comes over to her and improves her form, doing more touching than absolutely necessary. Which Elena is quick to point out as well.

Damon just smirks and tells 'Buffy' to not be so touchy and then makes a quick lunge for her which she quickly dodges. She rolls her eyes, tells him to get over himself. But Stefan can't help but cringe at the undeniable look that passes between them and the small ghost of a smile that only shows up when Damon's in the room.

…..

He knows he's being paranoid, but there's something he's missing. Some piece of time that would make all of this make sense. They're being too normal, like it's always been this way, and maybe it has, but Stefan had never noticed it before.

He watches from afar again, always Elena's perpetual shadow as she sits on the porch and drinks lemonade...with Damon. It's so weird to just watch them talk like old friends over a glass of Lemonade. It's just so...human. Normal. And Stefan can't help but think that this is some weird alternate universe where Damon isn't the monster they all knew him to be. Or at least that he used to be. Until he met Elena.

Elena's laughing, blushing at the occasional innuendo filled joke that Damon throws her way. Stefan literally cringes. But he knows that he made this choice and it's one he has to live with. Even if that choice is pushing one of the only girls he's ever loved right into his brothers arms.

She giggles like he hasn't heard her do in awhile as she speaks freely to Damon without a care in the world. "Mr. Salvatore, are you trying to get me drunk?" she asks incredulously, talking in what almost sounded like a lady of his times voice, as Damon removes the flask from his pants pocket and pours more clear fluid into Elena's glass.

He smirks at her knowingly, as if they have a private joke that Stefan isn't in on, "Is it working?" she snorts before taking another sip of her spiked lemonade. Stefan can't help to think that this is a scene right from him and his brothers past. He could recall many afternoons that he himself had spent this way with young women. Even Katherine.

"I don't know it too early to tell, I'll keep you posted." He takes a drink of his own lemonade, and even comments that something about this reminds him of when he was human. He watches his brother wince when he realizes what he'd accidentally said out loud.

Elena smiles at him, and looks at him questioningly, "How so?" he shrugs, looking ahead at the sunset and not at her as he answers. "Sitting with a beautiful girl on a porch, making her giggle," he gives a small laugh before adding, "Spiking her lemonade." She smiles at this, "It's very eighteen sixty-esque."

She looks over at him, "I had a feeling that you'd always been the bad boy. The one your mother told you not go after." He chuckles at this, "Au contraire, I have spent many an evening just like this, with many girls in my youth. It was really one of the only times you got to be alone with a girl. You would talk, and flirt; maybe she'd promise you every waltz at the next party." He said, a smile growing on his lips as he reminisced.

Elena laughs, "Sounds like something straight out of "Gone with the Wind"," he grins, and deadpans "Margret Mitchell knew her stuff." She giggles; even Stefan has to smile a bit at the bittersweet tone Damon has taken while talking about the past.

"What you sad that night, that I would have liked you when you were human," Damon looks at her quizzically, while Stefan wonders what night they're talking about. "I meant what I said, that I like you the way you are now, I wasn't saying it just because you were dying. You should know that."

Damon gives her a small smile, "Well, let me just tell you that you would have liked me more back then, I was a bit…naïve. Less jaded…human." Stefan snorts a laugh, they'd both been naïve, but Damon had defiantly been less naïve than him, Damon had just allowed himself to be blinded by love, but then again Stefan had a time or two as well.

"Well, it doesn't matter now, because that Damon is gone, and this Damon is very much now. And although you think differently, I think I would still pick this Damon." He doesn't look back at her, but he offers the sunset a small bittersweet smile.

He watches them move closer to each other on the swing, whether or not they notice that they move a few inches closer every couple of minutes is beyond him, but as he continues to watch how casually they talk to each other, he decides it's not on purpose. They are just drawn to each other.

Elena lays her head on Damon's shoulder, watching as dusk slowly descends upon them. Even though Stefan flinches, Damon and Elena don't even seem to notice that they couldn't look more like a couple right now if they tried.

She sighs heavily and whispers to him, "I don't know what I would do if you weren't here Damon. You keep me sane." He smiles a tight lipped smile, Elena can't see the look in his eyes, but Stefan can as he mutters a simple reply, "Ditto."

…

Stefan watches them more closely over the next week. He'd be lying if he said that this new found closeness between Damon and Elena wasn't affecting him. Because it most certainly was. Now they sat on the couch, Alaric wasn't home and Jeremy was at the grill, and they were completely alone.

Through his observations over the past week, he'd noticed that Elena seemed more comfortable, more put together when Damon was around. She seemed to relax, as if with his presence came a calming fog that she allowed herself to sink into. Damon still had yet to stop sneaking back into her room at night and Stefan's curiosity was wearing him thinner and thinner every day.

Fighting over the remote, the two bicker back and forth, but no matter how comfortable they are with each other, this is to be expected. It is Damon and Elena after all. He couldn't remember a time when Elena and Damon hadn't been at odds over something.

He wrestles it from her and holds it up in triumph, before quickly being stripped of his title as remote control holder when Elena tackles him back onto the couch. They laugh in a carefree way that Stefan could never recall sharing with Elena, but then again, that was his Elena. This Elena was new. Different. Damon's.

She allowed herself to be carefree around Damon in ways that she didn't around Stefan. They always looked like they were having fun, even their fights seem to carry a certain playful banter that they seemed to enjoy entirely too much.

Damon flips her back over, but doesn't make another attempt to grab the remote. They stare at each other, chests heaving from the fight they'd just put up. Neither makes a move, until Elena points the remote at the television and turns it off.

Staring at her quizzically, Damon still makes no move to change their position on the couch, letting Elena make the decisions here. "I'm not going to forget what I feel right now. I know you think that I'm going to, but, I'm not. I couldn't. The things I feel for you…I can't un-feel." She continues to look at him, her breathing having calmed down now, but her racing heart still beat loudly in her chest, giving away how nervous she was, when she finally, wordlessly arches up to allow their lips to meet.

She's tentative at first, as is Damon, trying to figure out if this is what she really wants or just another test that he was supposed to be clued in on, until he finally decides that this is real and starts to kiss her back.

As soon as his tongue enters her mouth it's all teeth and lips and moans, until Stefan can't allow himself to watch any more. He tries to think over him and Elena's time together, trying to decide when everything got so twisted so fast. It should be him fighting with her over the remote. It should be him kissing her lips. It should certainly be his name falling from her lips breathlessly now...not Damon's.

Still, the cold hard truths was, that it was Damon making her gasp and arch, and forget about the real world for awhile as they fell into a sea of lust. Stefan couldn't help to be a little jealous. Anything he and Elena had done wasn't nearly as heated or as full of wanting as he was watching now. It made him bitter.

Stefan watches Damon's hands as they push up Elena's t-shirt, exposing her expanse of flat skin, that Damon has no right to be laying his hands on, and wants to scream when she arches and helps him remove the shirt revealing her black laced bra. He cups his hands over bra clad breasts, making the breathy moan he knows all too well fall from her lips.

Just as he feels the pent up rage within him is about to break through, Alaric comes slamming in the door, instantly embarrassed by the scene he's walked in on.

Elena and Damon look at him sheepishly like two teenagers caught making out, (which technically they are, at least one of them and the other in spirit), and Alaric just retreats up the stairs with a mumble about papers to grade.

Elena accepts her t-shirt from Damon and grins at him, not saying anything, but neither does he. They share a look that seems to be saying a lot to the other, although the rest of the world is excluded. And then, silently, they do what they do best, act like it never happened and just go back to watching television. Stefan almost feels sick.

…..

He leaves after their tryst in the living room. He can't stand to look at them for much longer. They may be able to ignore what is so blatantly going on in front of them, but he can't. He won't.

Anytime they're in the same room together, all he can see is his brothers hands on her body, hear her moans under hands that weren't his own, and he doesn't think that he can keep reliving that and keep his sanity. He finds that draining blood from an unsuspecting innocent seems to help, and he can finally see how Damon was able to live this way. It's unbelievably satisfying. And…it helps you forget.

It's better than alcohol, better than sex, and it's amazing when you combine all three. Drinking, fucking, and killing…in that order. He can't believe that he's lived with this guilt for so many years, when it was more satisfying and a hell of a lot easier to live when he wasn't susceptible to his emotions. He'd forgotten how easy life was this way and he's almost grateful to Klaus for pulling him out of the obvious miserable life that he'd planned for himself. And, as quickly as Elena has obviously fallen for his brother, he's sure that their break-up was inevitable anyway, which would have landed him right where he sat now.

In a pool of blood, satisfied, and hungry for more, he's about to move on to the blonde he'd just killed brunet friend, when Klaus walks into the room. "Stefan, your brother is presenting a problem." Stefan stops his pursuit of the giggling Sorority girl, compelling her to stay right where she was until he got back. He walks over to Klaus, who's smirking, more than likely not missing the fact that the girl whose throat he was about to rip out had a striking resemblance to a certain Gilbert, but he chose not to comment on it.

"What's wrong with Damon?" Stefan asks, not really in the mood to speak about his brother at the moment.

"He's just getting a little too close for comfort Stefan; I'm going to need you to take care of that for me." Stefan sighs. "The agreement for me coming with you was for Damon to stay alive." No matter how much he may hate Damon for stealing away Elena when he wasn't there to fight for himself, he doesn't wish him dead. Harm maybe. A burning hot vervain stake right in the middle of his back where he couldn't reach it maybe, but not death.

"I didn't say you had to kill him, just scare him off. He's too concerned about finding you. All you need to do is assure him that you are alright, and to stop looking for you." He said placing his hands on his shoulders. "Simple as that." Stefan hangs his head, but accepts, he is after all forever in debt to Klaus for saving his brother, the man always after his girl. This time, he just might get her.

…..

Stefan decides the best and fastest way to get this done is just to show up at the boarding house. No sense in making Damon travel more miles in his mustang just to find his brother, who was trying to be found anyway. But still, he could have made it more difficult. He comes around three in the morning, knowing Damon usually leaves Elena's house at five. He knows he needs to get his thoughts together before he talks to Damon. He doesn't' want to grill him about his girlfriend, ex-girlfriend. Stefan grimaces. That had a bitter taste.

He hopes that he will find Damon at home, meaning he wouldn't have spent the night with Elena, doing unmentionable things to girlfriend, ex-girlfriend. Stefan grimaces again. His hopes are high and he's pleasantly surprised when he notices Damon's car parked in the drive-way, smirking, knowing that Damon and Elena might be in a fight, which is why he might be home. Or nothing was going on. Then again he'd done too much stalking in the last few months to believe that.

Stefan waltzes in the house unannounced, like he belongs there. Which technically he does, even if he might not necessarily be welcome. This is his home just as much as it is Damon's. He's surprised when he finds Damon sitting in the living room, with a pair of pants on and no shirt, staring into the fire, like he's in deep thought while he silently sips his bourbon. Stefan clears his throat to signal to Damon that he's there. His brother jumps, which is uncharacteristic of him, he never lets anyone catch him off guard.

He looks…guilty, Stefan decides. He almost wasn't sure at first, it's odd to see that expression his face. Damon never feels regret for anything, at least where Stefan was concerned. "What are you doing here Stefan?" Damon asks quietly, giving him a drunken faraway look that he's not used to associating with Damon.

Stefan shrugs his shoulders, "I'm here to tell you to back the fuck off." He says the words before realizing they offer a double meaning. By the expression on Damon's face, Stefan can tell it is not lost on him, but neither comment on it. "Come on Stefan. Just let us help you break whatever spell Klaus has on you and be done with it so we can get you back to terrorizing the furry forest friends."

"I don't want to come back Damon." Replies Stefan calmly, before Damon blows up in his face, "Damn it Stefan! I don't understand why you have to be so thick skulled about every little thing. Let us help you, for once." Stefan shakes his head, before retreating to Damon's liquor cabinet and pouring himself a large glass of bourbon. "I think you know exactly why I don't want to come back."

Damon's taken aback by this, not expecting him to know anything about he and Elena's newly developed relationship. Stefan notices this and gives him a cold smirk. "Well, it doesn't matter Stefan, because as soon as you let the first drop of human blood touch your lips to save my ass, I became accountable for you. I'm not going to let you stay Klaus's crony for the rest of eternity."

Stefan turns around to tell Damon that he's not Klaus's crony, and he's perfectly fine with the lifestyle he's convinced himself that he's chosen when a flash of bright red catches his eye on the liquor stand and makes him freeze in place. Damon looks at him quizzically until Stefan picks up the small lacy piece of fabric that Stefan, god help him, recognizes. They're Elena's.

Looking up at the ceiling, he hears the soft drumming of a heart beat coming from upstairs that he now noticed, strange he hadn't before. _An obviously naked Elena_. He thinks with malice. He clenches his fist with the knowledge he posses now, they were together and this is more than likely what had been going on when he wasn't looking.

He throws them at Damon, who has that guilt written all over his face again. It takes all Stefan has in him not to growl. "That…is why I don't want to come back." He says, walking over to Damon, who's decided to get over his shame and own up to what he and Elena did. Had been doing.

"Stefan…" Damon sighs, but doesn't get any farther than that when Stefan cuts him off. "No. You don't get to be guilty." He begins, poking Damon in the chest. "You don't get to act like your upset and that this isn't the best damn day of your life. You don't get to act like you're upset that you won the prize, just because I wasn't around to fight for it fair and square."

Damon instantly is yelling right back in his brother's face. "Yea? Well you weren't here Stefan! Do you know how many nights I have had to sit up with her and hold her because there was no one else left here to do that for her? I have had to endure seeing her absolutely miserable because you were gone to save **me. **Of all god-damn people. So yes, maybe along the way our feelings for each other got in the way, and I am sorry Stefan that it happened, it just sort of did. Well, I'm sorry for your sake, not mine."

"Damon?" They both freeze and look to the top of the stairs, where the small brown headed goddess that is the root of the Salvatore brothers eternal feud stands hesitantly. She slowly, cautiously, walks down the stairs, clad in only one of Damon's button up shirts. _The one that was clearly on his body earlier, due to his state of undress now. _Stefan thinks.And god help him if he still thinks she's the most gorgeous creature to ever walk this Earth. _And I can no longer call her 'mine'. _

"Is everything okay?" her eyes widen for a moment when Stefan comes into her view. But a look of pity almost instantly takes its place. Stefan would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised. He'd expected a look of guilt, love, even contempt. But not pity, almost like she was sorry for him, but not sorry that it had happened.

"Go back upstairs to bed Elena." Damon mummers quietly, lovingly, with a promising whisper that Stefan cannot ever remember hearing in his menacing older brothers voice. She of course ignores Damon, and goes to stand defiantly by his side. "What are you doing here Stefan?"

"Apparently getting clued into the status of you and Damon's newly developed relationship." He can smell the couple all over each other, all over the house. He's surprised that it took him so long to notice these obvious clues to Elena and Damon's trysts. But no, he'd held on to hope for so long that she would never abandon him for Damon.

She winces, as if he's physically slapped her. Elena is silent, not looking Stefan in the eyes, keeping her attention focused on Damon. She lays a loving hand on his back and finally meets Stefan's accusing gaze, as if she is drawing strength from Damon. And just like that Elena's hesitant gaze has turned from apologetic to cold.

"Leave." He has to admit, he's taken aback. Never would he have imagined it would be Elena that kicked him out. He's so shocked he allows himself to mutter, "What?" She just holds her head higher, never allowing her hand to leave Damon's shoulder. "I said leave. If you're not going to let us help you then leave. There is only two ways this can go, either you go down into the cellar willingly, and we will bleed you dry and deal with Klaus; or you can leave, run back to Klaus, and leave Damon and I alone until you decide that you're worth saving."

He's stunned into silence, never having received an ultimatum from Elena before. At least not one where he wasn't still offered her behind door number three. He sees how Damon has rubbed off on her over the summer. She's stronger, braver, and not as scared and weak as she would have been months ago if this conversation occurred. Damon notices it too, and his chest swells with pride.

Stefan is about to retaliate, tell her to go to hell and then get out of dodge, when he notices that Damon is no longer by Elena's side, and is about to comment on it when he feels the sharp sting in his neck of a needle, and the burning sensation that he only knows how to identify as the pain of vervain shooting into his system, before everything goes blank.

…..

He awakes disoriented and groggy. He tries to stand but fails when he realizes he's been chained to the wall in the cellar. His wrists are bleeding, as is his neck and the sting of vervain makes his skin sizzle where they have placed it to keep him from healing. He wiggles his fingers and notices they've removed his ring. _Great, even if I do escape, I can't leave till nightfall. _

Stefan strains his hearing to see if anyone is in the house, when he notices the sound of a heartbeat. Hers, but it's sped up fast, like she's nervous…or excited. _Surely not_. Thinks Stefan, surely they wouldn't do that with him in the house. But the unmistakable sound of quickened breath and Elena's moans are coming to him slowly in waves as Damon plays tribute to her body.

He grimaces, and for once in his vampire life is angry about his heightened sense of hearing…and smell. God, if couldn't smell her. The same arousal that had so many times before been reserved for him. Only him. He let out a roar of rage, hoping maybe they would hear him and stop. At least he knew Damon had heard him, but the son of a bitch hadn't stopped yet.

Stefan was almost literally sick as he had to go through the torture of listening to the girl he loved be loved by someone else. He wondered if Damon was as gentle with her as he was. He'd always been careful with Elena, never wanting to let his vampire nature to make an appearance, afraid of what he would do to her if it did. He wondered if Damon made her feel as special and cherished as Stefan had always assumed he had. He wondered if Damon's breath hitched the first time he saw her completely bare like Stefan had. He wondered if Damon had found the birth mark on her stomach that differentiated her from Katherine (As if she needed anything else). He wondered if Damon kissed her there like Stefan did every time they'd made love.

He's startled when she begins to scream, she'd never made any of the sounds she was making now when they had been together in the past. She'd always been a quiet lover, passionate, but quiet, whimpering softly, whispering his name as she came with quickened, gasping breaths. But now, Elena was all out screaming, calling out profanities and yelling to God to never let it stop. Stefan can't help but to feel a stab at his pride, angry that Damon had taken her away from him, but even angrier for giving her more pleasure than he had ever been able to provide her.

He vamps out when he smells then scent of her blood, and roars again in fury. Blood sharing was really fucking personal, and Elena was more than willingly opening a vein for his brother. Stefan winces when Elena starts to call out Damon's name, over and over. Like a chant that escalated her pleasure, just from caressing his name with her lips. He can hear Damon's grunts as she comes, while he tries to hold on, and keep going, not wanting anything to end. Being with Elena did that to you. She was like being engulfed in complete paradise. Like a siren, you would gladly go to your death if it meant you got to chase your pleasure within her.

He physically relaxes when they finish, hoping to God he doesn't' have to go through that again anytime soon. He listens as they kiss, and strains to hear them as they talk, since they're no longer screaming.

"Do you think he could hear us?" she asks worriedly, she figures Stefan's angry enough about being tied up, no reason to add fuel to the fire.

"More than likely if his little hissy fits he's been throwing down there are any indication." So he had heard him, thought Stefan. Dick.

"Damon," begins Elena in a scolding tone, "we really shouldn't have done that with him in the house." Stefan can practically hear his brother's eyes roll. "He's a big boy Elena, he'll get over it."

"I know. I'm trying my best not to feel guilty, because you know, what do I have to feel guilty about? We weren't even technically together when he left, we were only talking about it. But I still feel like I've screwed him over in some way. Like I owe him a bigger explanation than what he's been given."

"What do you mean?" asks Damon, as Stefan wonders the same thing. "I just. You know, I'm sure all he see's is us sleeping together you know? He doesn't see what all we mean to each other Damon. He hasn't seen us when we we're just sitting on the couch watching T.V. or when we go to hang out at the Grill, or when we have family dinner and game night with Ric and Jeremy. He doesn't see us as a couple. I'm sure he doesn't realize that you love me…I'm sure he doesn't realize that I'm no longer in love with him, while I might love him like a brother. I'm sure he doesn't know that I-I love you…"

Damon's breathe hitches, and Stefan knows that she's never said that to him before. He realizes, that while he may have been looking into Elena's window almost every day, he'd failed to look at the person that was always there by her side, no matter that she was still holding on hope for Stefan. Damon had been there, and cared for her, and eventually Elena had begun to notice, where Stefan didn't. They'd grown closer and closer every day that he was gone. Looking for him had given them an excuse to be around each other. A luxury that they hadn't, up to that point, possessed. And now they were in love.

Stefan wonders if he'd allowed himself to see what was truly going on if he could have stopped it. But then just gave up on trying to reassure himself. They were together now, and there was no turning back.

And he knows that those final words spoken before the couple upstairs began to kiss again, were the final nails in his coffin of ever getting Elena back. All because he wasn't looking.

_So, what did you think?! I would really like some feedback if you please. I really like knowing what you guys think. If there were any mistakes I'm sorry. I read through it, but sometimes I'm bad at proof reading! Thanks you guys!_


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